Why does eBay allow fraudulent error coins to be listed for sale?

Question

I see hundreds of eBay auctions selling US "error" coins that are clearly fraudulent. Why do they allow this? I have been an eBay member since 1998 and remember them removing auctions for counterfeit items like purses and fragrances that were labeled as genuine.

kimbla9963 · Accepted Answer

It appears to me that itâ€™s dome money laundering going on. Post a coin for outrageous price the person transfers the money and no matter what the reality of the coin is no one can say you didn't want that coin for 150k . Easy peezy money changing hands.

msffcoins · Answer

Lol ..It BLEEPED out all my curse words. ðŸ¤£ ðŸ¤£ lol. You'll have to use your imagination for whenever you read a "BLEEP" ðŸ¤£ ðŸ¤£ . LOL

msffcoins · Answer

There are SOOOOOOO MANY SCUMBAGS who try to sell coins that are SO CLEARLY damaged yet they try to sell them as mint error coins. The one that led me to find this was because I just found a BEAUTIFUL 1963 Nickel with multiple (ACTUALðŸ™„ðŸ˜ðŸ¤£) mint errors in it (die clash AND strike through (and (MAYBE 1 or 2 others but I'm not 100% on those 2 but DEFINITELY 50%ðŸ¤£LOL...so ...*2* it is. Lol. Anyway I googled "1963 nickel mint errors and found quite a few PIECES IF SH"T (and I'm NOT referring to the coins) including the one that led me here. It's advertised as a 6 that is INTO the edge or rim..one of them. Not important. The picture shows a 6 that is definitely against the rim AND edge but only ...***ONLY!!!!*** because it was DENTED where the 6 is which SO CLEARLY pushed the edge & rim INTO the 6. 100% ***NOT!!!*** a mint error and that **bleep** DEFINITELY KNOWS THIS. I refrained from doing what I have done more times than I can count which is not only send them "YOU'RE A **bleep** SCAMMER,

***ETC. !!!***" message but report them because EVERY time I have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING was done about it. They ALL have 100% positives which is ALSO PURE ðŸ‚ðŸ’© and they ALL play the ..OHHHH! I DIDN'T KNOW!! I'M SHOCKED! MANIPULATING LYING SACS OF ðŸ’© EVERY ONE OF THEM because they KNOW EXACTLY what at they are doing which is one thing and ONLY **1** thing... SCAMMING PEOPLE. Apologies for my being a tad 'bit'ðŸ˜³ðŸ˜³ðŸ¤£upset but I REALLY HATE **bleep** SCAMMERS. (profound, I knowðŸ˜ðŸ¤£lol. ) To answer your question.. It's because eBay cares about ONE THING AND ONLY **1** thing.... MAKING PROFITS which they do by making COMMISSIONS on items sold... whether they be LEGITIMATE or SCAMS. Sure, Ebay will assist you if you het scammed if the scammers are called out and brought to eBay's attention......BUT ..just imagine how MANY are NOT because my guess is that a LOT of people DON'T realize they have been scammed until it's too late ...IF they EVER do. Not everyone is honest like I KNOW 'I' am and 'you' apparently are. There are MILLIONS of people who wake up EVERY DAY and think..."ðŸ¤” HMMMMMðŸ¤” I wonder who I'm gonna SCAM today and for HOW MUCH!?ðŸ˜

jandjvenckus · Answer

Never thought of that!

selsa84 · Answer

I hear ya. I see a regular seller who it is obvious he is altering them to look like error coins. His feedback even reflects it but he is still selling hundreds of coins a month and some are so obviously altered it's bad. I've reported it and nada. I collect errors also but wouldn't touch an eBay "error" coin. 99% are either altered by seller or just wear and tear and they call it an error.

ajs_coins_and_alchemy · Answer

If the coin isn't counterfeit, it's kind of like calling a common coin "rare". Where do you draw the line between counterfeit and "questionable" marketing.

Someone could theoretically be "overstating" the "defect" as an error.

I have a few mint sets with *packaging errors* ... those are "errors", not errors in the minting process but simply how they got packaged with an extra coin stuck in before being OGP sealed.

This comes down somewhere between EBay needing to crack down on counterfeits & buyers needing to do their own due diligence. EBay isn't a site full of professional sellers, every day Joe's Bob's and Sally's can sell on here. This is just part of the deal, if you want to let non-pro's sell, then you need to accept some of these things... as long as it isn't entering the realm of true counterfeits.

worldcoinauctions · Answer

Beats me, on these boards I'm always hearing about folks who got shut down for selling one thing or another. Myself I once listed an error coin hand had it taken down by ebay (this was a decade ago on one of my other accounts) they informed me that it had been identified as a vice job by a team of volunteers. I investigated, agreed and actually chucked it in the garbage.

That said tons of absolutely wrong stuff is sold and it gives ebay a reputation at least in coins and collectibles of a market that you don't want to be in if you are not pretty competent. I do wish it were otherwise but I don't have a lot of faith that it will change.

I still sell quite a few coins here. Still on my best ebay year they were only 10% of my sales.

dogchow747 · Answer

I know this one is a little old, but I understand the complaint.

Most have "mechanical" or "environmental" damage and are listed as mint errors at silly prices.

Pennies cut in half with tin snips listed as die clips.

Ebay may be making money in fees over these, but it does tarnish any reputation keeping obvious fakes up.

I have been reading coin stuff since I was around 10, some errors are hard to ID even with experience.

"Caveat emptor" should not be a way of life.. Folks make mistakes, but some are just dishonest.

I do report folks that claim their coins are PCGS / NGC graded to get better views.

They do seem to remove those.

I guess you could say similar things about the $6300 Corning Ware Blue Cornflower Casserole Dish....

I twice reported a piece of "pottery" claimed to have been removed from the Tulum Mayan ruins in Mexico. The most basic research screamed of illegality. Nothing happened... Because it was more likely a scam rather than a real looted artifact?

Sad face...

maxine*j · Answer

Coin listings do get removed all the time, along with those in the categories you mentioned and many more. But with about 1,500,000,000 listings up every day, only a fraction of violations can be caught. And it's a bit like playing whack-a-mole: Smack down one and up pops another.

Buyers must educate themselves, learn to buy from reliable sellers, file INAD claims when they receive misrepresented items, and get over the notions that there are free lunches and deals too good to be true.

As for reporting items, there is not enough staff, expertise, or time in the world to investigate every such report, and eBay cannot merely accept anything they were told by anyone and start pulling listings. What if the report is from a rival seller trying to kill the competition, or from someone unqualified to make a determination, or from someone with a personal grudge? The list of spurious reasons for reporting is long. If you were a seller, how you would react if you had listings pulled by eBay based on nothing more than a report by an anonymous person, whose knowledge or motives remain unknown to eBay and to you?

Finally, read the eBay Terms of Use, which you agreed to when you created an account here: "... while we may help facilitate the resolution of disputes through various programs, eBay has no control over and does not guarantee the existence, quality, safety or legality of items advertised; the truth or accuracy of users' content or listings; the ability of sellers to sell items; the ability of buyers to pay for items; or that a buyer or seller will actually complete a transaction or return an item."
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/user-agreement.html

Truly, as in all marketplaces, caveat emptor.

-

soh.maryl · Answer

In the case of most items, such as coins, eBay has no way to ascertain whether or not the item is as described or counterfeit and I am sure you know that.

My eBay membership has been from about the same time as yours and I do not recall being aware of any removal of auctions for that reason, but I could have missed it.

And I'm pretty sure that most buyers should know about the Money Back Guarantee if they should receive something that is not as described.